How to Change File Copy Name Template in Windows 11

You can change the file copy name template in Windows 11. It will allow you to customize the name of the file Explorer assigns when you copy it to the same folder, e.g. with Ctrl + C/Ctrl + V or with drag and drop.

As you may already know, if you drag and drop a file to the same folder, Windows 11 Explorer will name the copied file as "Filename - Copy". The next file copies will be named as Filename - Copy, Filename - Copy (2), and so on.

You can customize the template for file copies, so File Explorer will use a custom name for each of the files.

Change File Copy Name Template in Windows 11

1. Open the Registry Editor; for that, press Win + R and type regedit.
2. Go to the following path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer.
3. Here, right-click the Explorer key create, and select New > key and name it NamingTemplates.
4. Finally, to the right of the NamingTemplates key, create a new string (REG_SZ) value and name it CopyNameTemplate.
5. Set its value data using the following default template: %s - Copy. This is the default value that you can change to, say, %s. This will remove the " - Copy" name extension.
6. The file copies will now be named as Filename(2), Filename(3) and so on.

You are done! The change will apply instantly. You don't have to sign out from Windows 11 or restart the operating system.

You can further customize the copy naming template,  by adding some additional text before or after the "%s" argument. So it will be used in the copied file name.

Examples of the CopyNameTemplate value

If you set the CopyNameTemplate value data to

Duplicate of %s

Or you change the CopyNameTemplate value data to

%s (duplicate)

With this new naming scheme, when you create file copies under the same folder, they will be named as

• File name
• File name (duplicate)
• File name (duplicate) (1)
• File name (duplicate) (2), and so on.

To undo the changes you made, simply delete the CopyNameTemplate string value from the Registry at any moment.

That's it.